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For me, baseball is word association. When I hear the name of a team, I quickly associate the team with certain players. So it is with this year’s World Series match-up between the Cardinals and Rangers. Almost immediately, I tried to come up with players common to both teams.

To be honest, I struggled to come up with big names who have played for both franchises. (In the case of the Rangers, I’m thinking only of their franchise tenure since 1972, and not when they played as the Washington Senators.) The biggest name I could come up with was a manager, Hall of Famer Whitey Herzog. We all know about the skillful job he did in leading the Cardinals to World Series appearances in 1982 and 1985. Herzog made over the Cardinals to fit the parameters of Busch Stadium, where the ball skipped along the artificial turf like a marble in a bathtub. Better than any manager of his era, Herzog skillfully adapted his club to its environment.

If we think a little harder, we remember Herzog’s days managing Texas, when he succeeded a fellow named Ted Williams in leading a band of unproven Rangers. Under Herzog’s guidance, Rangers like Jeff Burroughs and Toby Harrah developed into very good players, but the team was done in by poor defense (that’s what happens when Mike Epstein, Rico Carty and Alex Johnson all play for you at the same time), a scattershot pitching staff, and the premature arrival of high school sensation David Clyde.

As much of a role as Herzog played with both the Rangers and Cards, I really wanted my game of word association to involve players, not managers. Without looking up any names at Baseball Reference, four St. Louis/Texas players immediately came to mind: Ted Kubiak, Jim Bibby, the aforementioned Alex Johnson, and the late Willie Davis.

One of the game’s good guys, Kubiak was the first man to play for both teams. He played for the Cardinals in 1971 and then the inaugural Rangers in 1972, but he had little impact on either team. Bibby was involved in the first major trade between the two franchises. The Cardinals sent Bibby to Texas for minor league catcher John Wockenfuss and veteran right-hander Mike Nagy. Bibby would throw a no-hitter with Texas, but he did little of consequence during his short stay in St. Louis. Johnson had little impact with either team. As a backup with the Cardinals in the late 1960s, he hit terribly, prompting the Redbirds to make him a member of the Reds via a trade. And then in Texas, he flopped badly as a left fielder and DH, falling well short of the hitting excellence he had achieved with the Angels in 1970.

So that left me with Davis. He did not spend a lot of time with either club; in fact, he split the 1975 season between the Rangers and Cardinals. But he managed to leave a distinct imprint on both clubs. With the Rangers, he emerged as one of the oddest characters in the franchise’s history. With the Cardinals, he continued his offbeat ways but also put together a productive half-season playing on the turf of Busch Stadium, giving him one last hurrah in the major leagues before an unproductive season in San Diego and then a jaunt in Japan.

In his prime, Davis was an enormously talented player. He was arguably the fastest player of the ’60s. He had oceanic range in center field, along with a strong throwing arm. He could run out triples better than anyone, had power, and with his smooth left-handed swing, could launch low fastballs into the outfield gaps.

By 1973, Davis’ standing with his original team, the Dodgers, had fully deteriorated. Although he was still team captain, Davis stopped hustling on routine ground outs and fly balls. Fed up with his lack of leadership, Dodgers general manager Al Campanis traded him to the Expos for workhorse reliever Mike Marshall.

Davis lasted only one season north of the border. He not only clashed with no-nonsense manager Gene Mauch, but he also made it clear he wanted more money. So the Expos traded him to the Rangers for promising infielder Pete Mackanin and a throw-in reliever named Don Stanhouse. When Davis arrived in Florida for his first spring training with the Rangers, he reported directly from a Los Angeles jail, where he had been held for alleged non-payment of spousal support to his ex-wife.

While he was with Texas, some of Davis’ teammates noticed his strange physique, which came from diligently performing yoga as part of an overall conditioning program. Davis had such little body fat that his veins bulged out throughout his body, giving him almost a surreal appearance. As one Ranger beat writer put it, Davis appeared to be all “skin and veins.” One of his Texas teammates dubbed Davis the “Strange Ranger.”

Davis also had unusual personal habits. For example, he shared living quarters with an intriguing choice of roommates—a Doberman pinscher who owned a set of large fangs. A devout Buddhist, Davis chanted loudly before each game. And faced with financial problems, Davis continually asked the Rangers for advances on his salary.

Davis had a temper, too. One day, hes engaged in a nasty clubhouse shouting match with manager Billy Martin, another man who struggled to control his emotions. And then came the final straw. When Rangers right-hander Steve Hargan chose not to retaliate after Davis was beaned by a Red Sox pitcher, Davis took off his glove and squatted down in center field as a show of protest. Martin was not pleased. Within a matter of hours, Davis received his walking papers in the form of a trade to the Cardinals.

In many ways, the 35-year-old Davis was a perfect fit for the Cardinals, who played on the fast turf of Busch Stadium. Davis’ line-drive swing and sprinter’s speed played more effectively than on the natural grass of Arlington Stadium in Texas. At times, the Cardinals started one of the fastest outfields in major league history, with Lou Brock in left field, Bake McBride in center, and Davis. The Cardinals had the outfield gaps covered–and then some.

In 98 games for St. Louis, Davis played well. He batted .291 (though his on-base percentage fell below .320), stole 10 bases in 11 attempts, and collected 50 RBI. With Davis serving as a catalyst, the Cardinals re-entered the pennant race, whittling down a 13-game deficit before finishing a solid third in the NL East, at 82-80.

Yet, there were problems. In August, Davis had to leave the team because his wages were being garnished by his ex-wife. The Cardinals placed him on the disqualified list, which meant that he would not be paid, at least temporarily. After five days on the DQ list, Davis and his ex-wife reached a settlement, allowing him to return to his team and continue receiving his salary.

Davis remained eccentric as ever. During one game in Los Angeles, he emerged from the Cardinals dugout shirtless. One of the umpires noticed that Davis had only shorts on, and ordered him to return to the clubhouse. As befuddled Cardinals coaches looked on, Davis shouted at the umpire, gestured heatedly, and then left the dugout.

Although he played hard for St. Louis, Davis was still not happy. His salary called for him to receive $105,000, but that wasn’t enough to meet his extravagant spending style. He wanted a new five-year contract worth $1 million, an outrageous demand for a 35-year-old player of that era. He talked about giving the Cardinals the “first shot” to sign him, even though he was already under contract and free agency was still a full year away. That was not the kind of thing that August Busch’s Cardinals did. So in late October, the Cardinals dumped Davis on the Padres, extracting only a fringe player, light-hitting backup outfielder Dick Sharon, in return. It was a case of trading a player for about 30 cents on the dollar. And so, Davis’ career as a Cardinal came to a crashing end. But it was memorable

By putting in time with both the Cardinals and the Rangers, Davis managed to make my all-Cardinal-Ranger team. The following players spent time with both ballclubs, some having an impact on one of the franchises, some having an impact on neither.

In their primes, these were all pretty good players. Of this group, only the ageless Arthur Lee Rhodes is still active. He’s currently on the Cardinals’ postseason roster, making his first appearance in World Series play, after having spent most of the regular season with the Rangers. Just like Willie Davis, he knows what it’s like to be dumped by one club and picked up by another in the middle of the season. Unlike Davis, he’ll be earning a World Series shar—not to mention a ring from either the Cards or Rangers—for his troubles.

Bruce Markusen is the manager of Digital and Outreach Learning at the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He has authored seven baseball books, including biographies of Roberto Clemente, Orlando Cepeda and Ted Williams, and A Baseball Dynasty: Charlie Finley’s Swingin’ A’s, which was awarded SABR's Seymour Medal.

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Steve Treder

Great stuff, Bruce. Willie “3-Dog” Davis was definitely one of the weirder personalities of his era (not a bad guy, just a strange one), and a very fun player to watch.

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5 years 11 months ago

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Ralph C.

“Seasons In Hell” was a very good book. Those Texas Rangers teams were very interesting, indeed.

Thanks, guys. To be honest, when I first started this article, I wasn’t quite sure where I was headed. It started as a kind of stream of consciousness—and perhaps still is.

I love Seasons in Hell. A very entertaining book about some not-very-good teams but many colorful characters.

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5 years 11 months ago

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Red Nichols

Love to reminisce about the great Willie Davis. Your reference to ‘oceanic range’ is a nice turn of phrase. . .

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5 years 11 months ago

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Butch Haber

Once again Bruce, Great Job!! By the way, did you know that he had over 2,500 hits? (2,561 hits to be exact)Which made the Category of Hits in 1989 Edition ( and Last One Published) of Daguerreotypes by The Sporting News) 182 HR’s and a 279 Batting Avg. Plus 3 N.L. Gold Gloves in a row (1971-72-73)Also 397 Stolen Bases. Yes Sir, Bruce, he was some talent!! And He also, as you mentioned, Played for My Beloved Expos in 1974!! Thanks once again!!

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5 years 11 months ago

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Frank Jackson

As an aside, reliever Tom Henke was named to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame this year. Of course, this was due more to his efforts on behalf of the Blue Jays than the Rangers or the Cardinals, but I’m guessing a lot of seamheads south of the 49th parallel didn’t hear about it.

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5 years 11 months ago

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Richard A.

Nice article. Not a big Dodger fan (except for Sandy Koufax) I genuinely feared the Dodgers lineup when Willie and Tommy Davis led a mighty impressive offensive machine in the 60’s. In the end, it was Tommy who was the greater hitter but Willie tortured opposing managers with his speed and base stealing abilities. Of course his faux Pas was those big errors against, I believe it was the Twins, in the 66 world series. Not a Hall of Famer, but a truly impressive ball player.

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5 years 11 months ago

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Butch Haber

Slight Correction for Richard A. Those Errors in 1966 were Against the Orioles in the W.S. the Twins were in the 1965 Series a Year Before Also Against The Dodgers. Butch.

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5 years 10 months ago

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Rob

Willie D was the best player on the Dodgers from 1967-1973, no one was even close during the post Wills/T Davis era and pre Garvey/Cey era — 3-Dog stood heads and shoulders above the rest guys like Wes Parker and Jim Lefebvre would agree — in the 65 series he set a record of stealing 3 bases in 1 game (game 5) in 63 Series his bat was the deciding factor in game 2 (with two doubles) knocking in the 1st 2 runs in game 2 and his deep drive to Mantle in game 4 brought Gilliam home to Secure… Read more »